Introducing Quadgets : A focused goal setting system

Goal setting is tough for most us because of two main reasons – first, we get into the trap of too many goals and second, we don’t follow up on the goals. To help you reach your goals and achieve success, I am sharing with you a system I have been using for years – Quadgets!

What is Quadgets?

Quadgets is a simple system to define your goals and remind to achieve success through these goals.

Quadget is a play on the words quadrant (the system uses four quadrants) and targets (the system helps you achieve the targets).

The two fundamental principles behind this system are – simplicity and clarity.

Through simplicity, the system is intuitive for anyone to define meaningful goals. I will get into details of usage later in this post. But the system is neither overwhelming nor scary for use.

Through clarity, the system clearly describe the goals whenever you see it.

How it works?

It all boils down to four steps.

Step 1 : Decide the timeline for your targets

This is the time period when you will work on the targets. It works best to start with a broader time period and narrow down to shorter ones.

Recommended timelines are Yearly, Monthly and Weekly. Start with yearly targets and use these as baseline for monthly goals and so on.

Start each timeline with a quadget sheet and establish targets. At the end of a particular timeline, reflect, debrief and create a new quadget sheet for the next timeline.

Step 2 : Decide the category buckets for your targets

As a next step, define category buckets to hold your targets. This ensures that you are not stuck with just one type of goals and cover a broader range.

Following are the recommended category buckets:

Create– Goals that lead you to create something like a product, article, tool etc.

Learn– Goals that lead you to learn something new

Read– Goals that lead you to read something like a book, article etc.

Enjoy– Goals that result in enjoyment like travel, time with loved ones etc.

Feel free to create your own category buckets.

Step 3 : Fill your category buckets with targets

For each category bucket and a timeline, list down your targets.

For instance, under the “Create” category bucket for the “Year” timeline, I may list down the following:

Publish the new blog site on Journalism

Create a custom voice recognition tool using Raspberry Pi

Create and publish the ebook on Landscape Photography

It is best to limit to 3 targets under each bucket. Starting with just 1 can be a good idea too.

Step 4 : Print and place it somewhere visible

The quadget sheet is simple enough to print. Place it somewhere visible so that you are reminded (multiple times!) every day.

You can even make it a desktop background and use it on your laptop.

Where to get it?

The quadget sheet is available as a FREE download under the Creative Commons license . You can download a version with color boxes or a B&W version by following the respective links.